Edwin's Top Five Restaurants of 2012!

Get two things here. The galbi tang and the donkatsu. In the soup, simmered beef is hacked lengthwise into 2-inch-long pieces, bones outweighing flesh. These are hand-holdable, actual ribs--so do it. Preceding each bite, dab on a mustard-smeared soy sauce to cut through the richness. Then sip the soup. It's a nectar-sweet, salty and savory miracle, a broth possible only when made by someone with saintly patience. To call it a great Korean soup would be unfair--this is just great soup. The donkatsu is also made with extraordinary care; once sampled, the breaded pork cutlet will become the local benchmark for future breaded pork cutlets. Han Yang serves it on a metal rack set above a plate, elevated above all else so every piece remains perfectly crisp and greaseless from edge to edge, top to bottom. And it's exactly that: perfect, with the meat between the crumbly coating so tender it crosses the line into fluffiness.